


San Junipero

by starkaryen



Series: Hannibal Cre-Ate-Ive Prompts and Challenges [12]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Black Mirror AU, Character Death, First Kiss, M/M, Mind Palace, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb, References to Depression, Touching, but not really, but they're alive I swear, it's complicated - Freeform, references to injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-28 21:24:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8463448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkaryen/pseuds/starkaryen
Summary: Hannibal visits San Junipero ten years after the fall off the cliff, when he lost Will. He doesn't plan to stay long, but what he finds there exceeds all his expectations.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sirenja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sirenja/gifts).



> First of all, [Sirenja](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sirenja/) made an amazing matching gifset for this fic, [here](http://sirenja-and-the-stag.tumblr.com/post/152696553118/hannigram-san-junipero-au-by-starkaryen)♥
> 
> Ok, I think need to explain a few things about this...
> 
> \- This is an AU of the 3x04 Black Mirror episode, but everything in Hannibal has happened as in the show, there is nothing different except for the existence of San Junipero.
> 
> \- I highly recommend watching that Black Mirror episode (since it's a tv show with independent episodes, everyone can watch it even if you haven't watched any other episode before), BUT this can be read without having watched it. The only thing you need to know is, in the ~future (here I've changed it for it to happen in the Hannibal present time) there is a sort of system that you can visit virtually, and in the end, people even "pass over" as a sort of euthanasia. People keep on living inside San Junipero regardless of how old they were outside, if they had any injuries, etc. It's basically a virtual world where you can live. 
> 
> \- As soon as I watched this episode, my mind went straight to a Hannigram AU. But what gave me the final idea was the conversarion I had with @[Vourer](https://twitter.com/Vourer) on twitter. Thanks a lot for sharing the tears with me<3
> 
> \- The fic is complete, so I'll be publishing it in the next few days :)
> 
> \- I have struggled... a _LOT_ with this fic. I wrote the first 6k draft in a few hours, and the next day I was ready to burn everything to the ground. But some people (*cough*) convinced me to look at it again, maybe make some changes and give it another opportunity. I did, I rewrote most of it and now I can at least look at it without wanting to burn it xD. So, for enduring my constant whines and wanting to read this (more than once...) before it was published and give me their opinions, THANK YOU [Firuflies](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Firuflies/), [Sirenja](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sirenja/), [FauxFidele](http://archiveofourown.org/users/FauxFidele/) and [levi163](http://archiveofourown.org/users/levi163)♥. Without them this would be erased right now xD  
>  Also, thank you SO MUCH to Firuflies and FauxFidele for the betaing, ideas, etc<33
> 
> \- And last but not least, this is for Sirenja, for everything I've mentioned before, because she's an amazing Sin Bunny, and also because it'll be her birthday next Tuesday! So, Happy Birthday in advance!!! :3

Hannibal had not expected San Junipero to look like this, not at all. He blinked, covering the sun with his hand as his eyes got used to the bright sunlight. As soon as he did, he looked around and let out an uneven breath.

Everything around him looked real. _So_ real. He lowered his gaze at his dressing shoes, now covered in sand, and moved his feet a little, feeling the sand crunch under his weight. He gazed around him then, taking in the way the ocean’s waves echoed in his chest, how warm the light of the sunset felt on his skin, how good the beach air smelled. It was so, so real…

“Hey!”

He turned at the voice, alarmed, as a guy that looked like he had been jogging stopped near him, still breathless. He looked around twenty-five years old, fit and sort of handsome. But the way he paused and brought both hands to his lower back as he straightened betrayed an older age, as if the man still hadn’t gotten used to his younger body.

“You new here?” he asked, taking a bottle of water out of his small backpack and sipping from it.

“I… yes. I am.”

“I thought so,” he said, chuckling. “Have you… You know. Passed over?”

Hannibal shook his head.

“So. Thinking about it, then?”

“Just… visiting.”

The man nodded, and Hannibal took a few steps forwards, hoping the man would continue his way. He sat down and touched the sand in a circle. It was warm in the surface, cold when he buried his fingers and reached deep enough. _Exactly_ like sand from a real beach.

The man entered his field of vision again, sitting next to him; far enough to respect his personal space, but Hannibal still looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He had not exactly pictured this moment with a stranger beside him, but he couldn’t do anything about it, and the man wasn’t exactly being rude, so he forced himself to sigh quietly.

“How come you look so old?” Hannibal turned to him with a blank expression, and the man smiled apologetically. “Sorry, not the best way to phrase it. I mean… Most people here choose to look twenty, maybe thirty, not more than forty.”

Hannibal swallowed with difficulty, and he looked at the ocean again. He thought about lying, but what was the point? He wasn’t going to see this man again, and in a few days, he would be dead. So why not being honest…?

“Something important happened to me at this age.”

Hannibal knew that what he was wearing wasn’t an accident, either. He had appeared in San Junipero wearing the gray slacks and sweater, the white shirt underneath, the beige jacket… It was the same outfit he was wearing the first time he had been in Jack Crawford’s office. When he had met him…

“Ah, I see,” the man said. “Let me guess, met your wife or something like that?”

“Something like that,” Hannibal simply said.

The man chuckled, and he finally bent his knees and got up with an exaggerated groan that he probably didn’t need.

“Well, I gotta go, but pleased to meet you. Good luck with your… visiting. Maybe we’ll see each other again!”

_I don’t think_ so, Hannibal thought, but he nodded anyway. The man raised a hand in a goodbye, and he trotted the opposite direction he had appeared.

Finally alone, Hannibal breathed in and out. He closed his eyes and thought of a dog, and a bark made him open his eyes again. The canine was middle sized, black, brown and white; almost exactly like one he had known, in what seemed like a lifetime away. He stretched out his hand and the dog pressed his head to it. The hair felt as real as a normal dog’s under Hannibal’s palm: soft and also coarse at some places of the animal’s fur. Hannibal smiled when the dog sat next to him, exactly in the spot the other man had been in.

“He would’ve liked this, right?” he asked the dog, looking at the horizon. The dog made no sound, but Hannibal nodded, agreeing with himself. “Yes… he would’ve…”

Hannibal suddenly felt his throat tightening, and he closed his eyes, fighting the tears welling in the back of his eyelids. He hadn’t cried in years, but it turned out, he hadn’t completely run out of tears.

*

Hannibal didn’t screamed as Chiyoh tended to his wounds, no matter how much pain he was in. He simply closed his eyes and tensed his jaw.

When he started healing and regaining consciousness more often, he asked her over and over. And her answer was always the same, and that hurt more than any physical wound. ‘ _I’m sorry. He wasn’t there. I couldn’t find him. It was only you_.’

_Only you_.

The first day he was able to walk on his own, adventuring down the stairs of the house Chiyoh had brought him to, the first thing he did was sitting on the living room and turning the TV on. He endured the pain in his belly through catastrophe after catastrophe in the news, and finally something caught his full attention: the follow-up of the Chesapeake Ripper’s case. They informed people about how the search had been extended to other states, the FBI still unsure whether he had died or not. And then the reporter said, as nonchalantly as if he were informing about the weather, that the former FBI profiler Will Graham had died the previous night in the hospital due to his injuries.

And in that moment, Hannibal Lecter’s world ended. He _did_ scream then at the TV, because it could not be true. It was a lie, a set up devised by Jack to catch him…

The following day, Chiyoh brought him a few newspapers for him to believe it. The news of his death and funeral was in all of them, Will’s picture merely occupying a small portion of the Chesapeake Ripper’s articles. As if he hadn’t meant that much.

Hannibal set them aside and closed his eyes. In a whisper, he asked Chiyoh to go. She didn’t argue.

*

Hannibal opened his eyes now to the sunny San Junipero as a couple of tears rolled down his cheeks.

It had been more than ten years since the fall, and each day still ached and weighed in Hannibal’s heart. The image of Will in his mind palace didn’t fill the gaps that had been hollow since then, and nothing he did in his life ever brought him anything close to joy, anymore. Not cooking, not any opera or work of art, not even killing the rudest of people.

After recovering completely, Hannibal had become more violent and careless than ever. He had not cared about anything, not anymore. Somehow, he had managed to avoid capture, despite not being precisely careful in most of his murders. He simply wanted to make the pain stop. He wanted to go back to the time in which nothing hurt this much, in which his biggest worry was avoiding jail. But he only managed to dull every emotion, even if it never stopped aching.

Years later, he had simply stopped killing, unless the opportunity presented itself. After all, what was the point, if he couldn’t share it or enjoy it…?

He sighed again, and he petted the dog’s head one last time before standing up, brushing the sand off his pants out of habit.

“Hannibal?”

The sound of that voice knocked the air out of his lungs, his heart climbing to his throat and an almost physical pain taking over him. In the ads they said you couldn’t feel pain in San Junipero, but nothing prevented you from emotional pain. He remained still for a long moment, his breath shallow as he finally turned around slowly.

Hannibal stood frozen, because there he was, in front of him, as if he was an apparition. Will was standing a few feet from him, dressed in a white V-neck t-shirt and jeans, his hair slightly longer than he last remembered… and he was so impossibly beautiful, Hannibal’s heart tightened immediately, another tear escaping his eye.

“Why...?” he asked at nobody in particular, and he blinked the tears away to focus the man. “I… thought you could only make up things, objects… animals,” he added as he remembered the dog next to him.

The Will in front of him blinked, apparently as astonished as he was, and he took a single step towards him. And then, he beamed as he huffed out a laugh and his eyes welled up.

“It’s… it’s really you,” he said in a strained voice.

Hannibal frowned, because he didn’t understand what kind of sick joke this was. Did San Junipero know what people’s deepest desires were and give them to you so you would choose to stay…? Or perhaps he was doing this subconsciously. Was he hallucinating? Could one lose his mind being in San Junipero…?

“What-” Hannibal started, but stopped himself and looked down.

This was not real. It was _not_ , and this Will was not real either. _His_ Will was gone, had been gone for ten years, and soon Hannibal would join him, wherever he was.

“Hannibal… Hannibal, look at me,” Will demanded, and Hannibal did so with a sharp intake of air because it sounded so much like him, the sweet sound of his voice making him smile weakly despite everything. “You’re… here. You’re really here.”

Will took a few steps towards him, erasing the distance between them. When he was close enough, Hannibal inhaled and pursed his lips. He smelled like him, and up close his eyes had the same storm-blue color that he remembered seeing in Will when they had been outside. Hannibal swallowed once again. He had thought he would never see this face ever again anywhere except in his own mind…

“Hannibal…” Will whispered, a tear rolling down his cheek.

His hand moved on his own accord, raising and reaching out to brush the tear away before it got lost in the stubble of his jaw. But as soon as his fingertip touched Will’s skin, he stepped backwards as he gasped. Will’s brow furrowed as he bit his lower lip, shedding a couple of tears more. Hannibal shook his head, because it wasn’t possible.

“No…”

“Hannibal-”

“How can it feel so real?” he asked.

Will moved closer to him again, and that time it was him the one who raised his hands and, very slowly, he cupped Hannibal’s cheeks in a careful touch, and as soon as Hannibal felt the man’s contact, he sobbed, his hands closing around Will’s wrists and leaning into his contact. Will let out a strangled laugh, or another sob, Hannibal wasn’t sure.

“Hannibal, it’s me. It’s… really me”

“No, it can’t be…” he said, shaking his head and closing his eyes, refusing to look anymore at that perfect, beautiful face. Will tightened a little his hold around his face, as if to demand him to open his eyes.

“How much time has it been? God, nine, ten years? But come on, it’s _me_.”

“He died. He- I saw the news, I saw the images of his funeral.”

“I did… but not exactly. I passed over,” Will said, and _that_ made Hannibal open his eyes. Will smiled shakily at him as he let his hands fall from his face.

Hannibal missed the touch immediately, though he parted his lips to say, once again, that it was not possible. But in that moment, three rings of an alarm sounded. Hannibal looked around him, but the sound seemed to come from inside him. Will furrowed his brow.

“What’s wrong?”  
“I think my time is up,” Hannibal answered almost unconsciously, remembering where he was, _how_ he was here.

“What?”

Hannibal looked back at Will, at his widened eyes and open mouth.

“I only had two hours here…” he said, and Will shook his head.

“No, not yet. Hannibal-”

He gasped as he sat up in the armchair, pulled out of San Junipero. Hannibal looked around at the empty, cold room around him, and then down at the controller in his hand. The small screen said ‘ _trial version expired_ ’ in blue letters, and Hannibal wrinkled his nose.

He took the pad from his temple and set both things down on the table as he walked to the kitchen, where he poured himself a glass of wine. His hand was shaky when he sipped it, so he sat at the small table there and pressed his palm flat on the surface as he breathed in and out slowly.

He felt heavy and empty, as if he was carrying a huge, unbearable weight inside but at the same time he was missing a large part of himself. He had not felt that way in years, because he had not allowed himself to feel much. But now that he had seen Will as clearly as if he were sitting at the table in this moment, it was like having flung open a door that hadn’t really closed, not entirely. This wasn’t like those times, more often than he’d like, in which he visited Will in his mind palace. There had been moments in which he had spent so much time there, walking down the rooms with Will beside him, that he had lost track of the days, weeks passing by. But this hadn’t felt like that… not at all.

Hannibal raised the glass of wine and took a longer gulp before filling the glass again. But when he set the bottle down, he turned his right hand, rubbing the tip of his forefinger and thumb together. He could still feel Will’s wet tear and skin there and in his face, where Will had touched him.

He knew well how Will’s skin had felt. He had entire rooms in his mind palace dedicated to the feeling of his hair against his fingers, the way his stubble had tickled against his palm, the weight and warmth of Will’s hands and arms when he had embraced him the last time they had been together… And this felt so, _so_ familiar...

Hannibal exhaled a long sigh, and he tried to think rationally: nobody could create people there. It was one of the basic rules included in the pamphlet he had read before buying the trial version of San Junipero and plugging himself in. Everyone who was there was someone who was or had been alive at some point before passing over.

He also recalled that San Junipero had started around twelve years ago. He remembered the few news and articles that had reached him while he was still in prison, of a revolutionary system, a way of interacting, but hadn’t understood much, nor had he been that interested. After the fall, he started seeing it announced on TV, more and more often as the time went by. But his mind had been stuck in one thing and one thing alone, and so he had not cared about it.

And yet, even though all the facts told Hannibal that it was possible that the Will he had seen _could_ be really him, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. _How_ could he, after everything that had happened, after how much it had hurt? How could be true that, after missing Will for more than ten years, it turned out he had been right there the entire time…?

Hannibal stood up, knowing what he needed in this moment. He left the second glass of wine untouched and he went out of the kitchen, switching the lights off as he walked upstairs. Once he was in his bedroom, he lay down in his bed, on his back. He observed for a few seconds the now familiar pattern of spots in the wooden ceiling. And finally, he closed his eyes.

Behind his eyelids, Hannibal switched on the lights of the foyer of his mind palace. His steps echoed along the walls as he walked down the hallway towards the room in which he knew he would find him, because it was the room he wanted him to be in. When he found the door to his office back in Baltimore, he stood in front of it for a couple of seconds. He breathed in and out, and he finally turned the knob and pushed the door in.

He was standing in between the two armchairs with his back to him. The daylight coming from the windows, even with the curtains half drawn, drew a sort of halo around him. Will turned around then and locked eyes with him, and Hannibal felt an instant ache in his chest. Will had a peaceful expression, and he was beautiful… but Hannibal already noticed the differences.

“I thought you weren’t coming back,” Will told him, turning to take a seat in one of the armchairs.

Hannibal did the same, closing the door to finally walk to the opposite chair and sitting down after unbuttoning the jacket of his suit.

“I thought so as well.”

Will ran his tongue across his lips. He seemed disappointed, and how could Hannibal blame him?  


“Suicide is the enemy, Hannibal. Didn’t you tell me that once?” Will asked, crossing his legs as he tapped in the armchair with two fingers.

“I did. I guess I am a traitor to my own words, given the right circumstances.”

Will chuckled at that, the sound musical but empty.

“I guess that’s true,” he said, and then he turned more serious. “What are you going to do?”  
“About what?”  
“You know what.”

_Will_. The Will inside San Junipero. Hannibal looked away from _this_ Will, not even standing to look at him in this moment.

“What if it _is_ really me, Hannibal? What then?” Will asked.

“I… don’t know,” he said. He lied.

He saw Will tilting his head and raising an eyebrow out of the corner of his eye.

“You do know. You just don’t want to say it out loud, because… you’re scared.”

Hannibal looked up at him again, but didn’t bother denying it.

“I guess you have two options now, Hannibal.”

“Tell me,” he asked him, even if he knew them too well.

“You can stay here a little longer, keep talking to me, a version of Will Graham who is _definitely_ not real, and go along with the plan you had of giving up on life…”

Hannibal swallowed and let his eyes roam the details of his old office in Baltimore for a moment. He focused back on Will.

“And the second?”

“You go back there.”

Hannibal felt his eyes welling up again, and he didn’t bother fighting the tears or brushing them away from his cheeks when they rolled down.

“What if it _is_ really him…?” he asked in a whisper, almost not daring to say it out loud.

“Then you’re going to have to find the answer for what you’ve been wondering for years.”

Hannibal closed his eyes, letting more tears roll down as he tried to swallow the tightness in his throat. Because what scared him the most wasn’t whether Will was real or not; even if he couldn’t completely accept it because of how painful the very thought was; deep down he knew he had to be.

The thing that scared him the most was… would Will want him there, with him…? Or had he moved on, made a life in San Junipero away from Hannibal, away from the killers, the FBI, Jack Crawford…?

When he opened his eyes again, the Will of his mind palace was observing him from his chair. He smiled, knowing what Hannibal’s choice would be.


	2. Chapter 2

When Hannibal appeared again in San Junipero, that time he was ready for the sudden change. Despite that, he had to blink and close his eyes for a moment, the sun so bright and warm against his skin even if it was already evening.

The sound of a bark made him finally open his eyes. He scanned the beach in which he had appeared again, seeing a couple of people walking by, another swimming in the water, a boat on the horizon… And to his right, five dogs of different sizes and colors trotting in his direction, followed by… him.

Will froze at seeing him there, and Hannibal turned to face him. But except for that, he didn’t dare moving at all as Will finally started walking up to him, the dogs jumping and walking around him; it didn’t surprise him at all that Will had an entire pack of dogs with him there. If anything, it sounded exactly like him. Like the real Will.

When he stopped right before him, Hannibal had to hold his breath for a second, because his memory from the previous day hadn’t done him justice; he was even more beautiful. Hannibal’s eyes roamed every part of Will’s features as they stood in silence, observing each other. In that moment, he realized Will’s scars on his cheek and forehead were still there. He remembered reading in the San Junipero’s pamphlet that once you were inside, every imperfection or disability would disappear if you wanted it. Hannibal wondered if the one on his belly would still be there, but Will spoke in that moment, making Hannibal’s eyes return to Will’s.

“You came back,” Will said in a low voice.

“I did. I bought the basic pack,” Hannibal said, but it sounded like someone else’s voice.

The corner of Will’s mouth trembled in a sort of smile before he nodded behind Hannibal.

“Come with me.”

Will didn’t say anything else before circling Hannibal hesitantly, and Hannibal didn’t ask for an explanation before following him. They walked side by side, and it painfully reminded Hannibal of the time in which they had done this in Florence. That time, though, neither of them had any forgiveness to drop, and Hannibal realized that they were heading to a near house by the beach when Will made a beeline towards it. And as soon as he really looked at it, he realized with a pang of pain what house he was looking at; it was an almost exact replica of Will’s house in Wolf Trap, with the same façade although with a few small changes.

The dogs went ahead, chasing each other and barking happily when they reached the porch of the house. Will opened the main door – which wasn’t even locked – and let the dogs in. Then, he closed it and turned to Hannibal. He pointed at the small rounded table and chairs in the porch.

“I know everything is… a lot to process. But let me try to explain it.”

He nodded, and they sat opposite each other, Hannibal with his hands linked in his lap, Will leaned forwards and resting his elbows on the table. Will stayed quiet for a few long seconds, and then he finally breathed in and out before speaking.

“After the… fall, I woke up in a hospital,” Will started, and Hannibal gritted his teeth at the memory of when _he_ had woken up under Chiyoh’s care. _Only you_. He wondered if Will had asked about him, too. “They kept me sedated at first, and when I finally woke up… it was unbearable,” he said, and Hannibal tilted his head, confused. Will let out a bitter chuckle. “I was… paralyzed. Completely, from the neck down.”

Hannibal had to close his eyes just for a second. Even if he could see Will in front of him, well and alive, the simple idea was too painful to hear.

“The doctors told me there was no solution. It was permanent. And then… the hospital told us about a very new way of… a form of euthanasia, although they didn’t call it that way, of course. They called it _passing over_ ,” Will said, and he leaned backwards on his chair. “I had seen the ads of San Junipero, although I had never truly paid them any attention. But in that moment… I accepted immediately. The FBI even paid for all the expenses,” Will said, and he shrugged. “I think they all assumed that… I don’t know. You had pushed me, or we had both fallen after fighting. I just said I had fallen, and that I didn’t know whether you had survived or not. Which… was not entirely a lie.”

Will fell silent then, and the only thing they did for a long moment, was looking into each other’s eyes. When the air became too heavy between them, Will leaned forwards again.

“Hannibal…” Will said, and Hannibal understood. _Say something_.

“I… don’t know what to say,” Hannibal said honestly. He cleared his throat, and tried to start with something simple. “You have been living here for ten years?”

“Yes.”

Hannibal nodded, and looked away from Will’s eyes for a second.

“I wasn’t planning on trying this, ever,” Hannibal finally said, his voice strained. “I bought the trial version because I wasn’t expecting to live much more. But I wanted to see this perfect paradise everyone talked about… just once.”

Will furrowed his brow, and he shook his head before Hannibal could say anything else.

“Wait, what do you mean you weren’t expecting to live much more…?”

It was Hannibal’s time to cock his head, his lips curling upwards in a bitter smile.

“Will… I have been mourning you for ten years. I just couldn’t take it anymore. There was no point.”

Will stayed very still for a long moment. Hannibal swallowed, guessing Will would reject him then. He opened his mouth to speak when Will suddenly stood up, almost knocking the chair over. He turned around, his back to Hannibal, and stayed like that for a few seconds. When he turned to face him again, he looked at Hannibal with an expression he wasn’t sure how to interpret.

“I was scared you had moved on,” Will finally whispered.

“What?”

“Hannibal, don’t you get it? All this time, all of… this,” Will said, reaching out to point at the beach. “I’ve been waiting for _you_.”

Hannibal felt his heart beating almost painfully inside his chest, his stomach somersaulting. He stood up slowly from the chair, unable to say anything.

“The only reason I accepted to pass over here was because… _Shit_. I knew it was a crazy idea, but I thought that maybe, _maybe_ , I would be able to see you again if you had survived. I thought that if I waited enough, maybe you would come… And so I waited.”

Hannibal shook his head a little, but not because he wanted to deny Will’s words, but because it was the only thing he could do.

“How could I _ever_ move on, Will…? I was telling you the truth. It _was_ all I ever wanted…” _You were all I ever wanted_ , Hannibal thought.

Will huffed out a laugh as he shed a couple of tears, and only then Hannibal realized his own eyes were watery, too. He stopped right in front of Will, not having realized he had approached him, and he wanted, once again, to reach out and wipe the tears away from his cheeks, but he didn’t. Because now he knew this was Will, the _real_ Will, and he knew he would feel him as such, and so he stayed completely still… But Will didn’t.

Will raised his hands and put them on Hannibal’s shoulders. Hannibal’s breath hitched in his throat at the touch; he could _feel_ the weight of his hands there through the clothes, sinking slightly into his skin. But Will didn’t stop then, either. Very slowly, he slid his hands around Hannibal’s neck, surrounding him as he leaned in. He pressed his chest softly but firmly against his, and tucked his head beside Hannibal’s, their cheeks touching. Hannibal gasped and closed his eyes, feeling light-headed at how much of him he could feel, how _real_ everything felt…

He leaned into the contact, tilting his head so it would be pressed even more against Will’s, and he finally dared to touch him on his own. He pressed both hands to Will’s sides, where he gently gripped the shirt he was wearing. Will tightened his embrace as a sob made him shudder, burying his face into the crook of Hannibal’s neck. Hannibal wrapped his arms too around the man’s middle, squeezing tight and nuzzling him as his tears got lost into Will’s hair.

They stayed like that until neither of them knew who was the one trembling, or who was the one that couldn’t stifle a groan. And they stayed like that, too, until both of them calmed down slowly, their muscles slowly loosening in each other’s arms.

After what felt like an eternity and not enough time at once, they let go of each other. Will brushed the wet trail of tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand, and Hannibal did the same as he tried to breathe evenly.

“Fuck… let’s go inside, it’s getting cold,” Will said, stepping back and nodding towards the main door.

Hannibal didn’t hesitate to follow him into the house, where the five dogs jumped and wagged their tails again as if they had been alone for far too long. Just then, Hannibal realized that the brown, black and white dog he had created the day before was still there. The dog went to him and Hannibal greeted him with a pat on his head.

“You kept him,” Hannibal told Will.

“Yes. I could’ve made him disappear, but… I just couldn’t.”

Hannibal looked up and found Will’s eyes already on him, studying him. The dogs finally returned to their beds and toys, and Will cleared his throat.

“Do you want… Shit. I don’t know. Anything to drink?”

Hannibal shook his head without taking his eyes off of Will.

“Well, I think I do need a drink.”

Will walked to the open kitchen, where he procured a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He poured himself a glass and downed it in one long gulp. Then, he filled it again and went back to the living room. He moved around the house with the confidence of someone who has spent enough time there to consider it a safe space. He had, after all, lived here for a long time, even if Hannibal still couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea of Will waiting here for years… and apparently, for him.

Will pointed at the couch then, and both Hannibal and him sat down at arm’s reach.

“You don’t get the bad effects of drinking, but you can get drunk, so… Win-win, right?” Will said, and then he pursed his lips when Hannibal didn’t do anything other than keep looking at him.

He took another sip of his glass, and Hannibal tilted his head as he looked at Will up and down.

“You are… different.”

“In what way…?” Will asked, smiling almost shyly.

“Less hesitant about… Yourself,” Hannibal said in a low voice. _About us_ , he thought.

“Yeah, well. Ten years is a lot of time to think,” Will said with a chuckle. “I had plenty of time to consider everything, basically. Plenty of time to finally accept and understand a lot of things... about myself.”

Will set the glass down on the coffee table in front of them and turned his body a little to face him.

“What are you going to… I mean. Are you going to go through with the plan you had before you came here?”

Hannibal smiled then, his lips slightly parted. His hand twitched in his lap, the need to touch Will again almost unbearable. He linked his hands together instead.

“I wanted nothing to do with this place… but that was before I found you,” he whispered, and Will parted his lips, expectantly. “I’m going to pass over, Will,” Hannibal finally said in a certain tone of voice. It was not a conscious decision he had made, but as he said it, he realized that it was, of course, the only possible thing to do. “I don’t know how, but I don’t care. I can’t lose you again.”

Will looked down in that moment, his eyes watery once again. And then, Hannibal felt the other’s hand against his. He untangled his own hands to welcome Will’s, and he slid his fingers against Hannibal’s palm before holding it in earnest.

Hannibal closed his eyes once again as Will squeezed his hand a little. He let out a long, ragged breath as he allowed himself to feel – _really_ feel – Will’s hand on his. He could feel Will’s palm against his, the warm skin and firm muscle pressing to his own.

When he opened his eyes again, Will seemed distressed, and so Hannibal waited for him to breath in and speak.

“Hannibal…” Will whispered. “About that night, after we killed the dragon…”

“Don’t,” Hannibal said then, shaking his head and tightening his hold on Will’s hand. “We will have time to discuss that, but… there’s no need. There’s nothing to forgive, Will,” he said honestly, guessing it was what Will was going to say.

Hannibal thought about the moment in the cliff, and despite how everything had turned out, every time he remembered it, he only felt delight about that precise moment. Because Will had gone to him, he had said what they had done together had been beautiful, and had embraced him. And oh, had it been beautiful…

“I wish the outcome had been different… I wish we would’ve both walked out of the ocean together and alive,” Hannibal said, and he felt a pang of pain just at saying it. “I wish you could’ve thought and considered everything while we were together, and not here, alone and on your own…” he continued, and Will pursed his lips, visibly fighting the tears. “I wish all that, I truly do, Will. But there is _nothing_ to forgive.”

Will nodded, and he half laughed, half stifled a sob. The hand he didn’t have between Hannibal’s landed on his forearm, gripping it tightly as if he would fall if he didn’t hold onto Hannibal. When they looked into each other’s eyes again, they smiled at the same time.

When the sun had completely set, they moved from the couch to the bed guided by Will, neither of them wanting to get away from the other. They lay down on the mattress on their sides, facing each other. Hannibal could hear dogs padding around the house, and the lights Will had turned on in gave the room an orangey glow. Hannibal could still feel Will’s hand in his; now that he had found him, Hannibal was scared if he let him go, Will would vanish away from his grasp.

“How did you find me the first day?” Hannibal asked in a hushed tone, realizing that detail just now. He had just seen that beach, but according to the ads, San Junipero had to be immense. _An entire world_ , the pamphlets said.

“I had- _have_ a kind of… alarm,” Will confessed, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly upwards. “You can ask for the system to alert you if someone appears. I don’t know how it works, but basically just as everything works here. You think about what you want and it becomes true, within a certain rules. The first day you appeared, I… I couldn’t believe it. I got into the car and drove here as fast as I could.”

Hannibal nodded and swallowed, once again not being able to believe that Will had been thinking about him as much as he has thought about Will.

In that moment Will rolled over to look behind him, and when he turned back to Hannibal, anguish was painting his face again.

“It’s almost time…” Will muttered, and Hannibal looked up across his shoulder at the clock on the nightstand.

The new version of San Junipero he had bought allowed him to be there much more than the trial version, but only until midnight, and time had really flown. Hannibal looked back at Will.

“Come back, Hannibal. Please,” Will pleaded, and Hannibal nodded.

“I promise. I will return, Will. I-”

Hannibal breathed in, jerking from the couch. He looked around him and sighed, the emptiness of the house an oppressive presence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, thank you... SO much to everyone who has read, commented, left a kudo, etc. I didn't expect so many people to like this, because I was so hesitant about this particular fic... So thank you, really :)  
> And I hope you guys like this chapter too! ^^


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Hannibal already had a plan; he needed a new identity, and one that met certain requirements. And so he began searching, having no time to lose.

When he called Chiyoh for help, she sounded surprise. But once again, she didn’t refuse him, willing to help Hannibal despite having talked to him only a couple of times in ten years. Together, they found the perfect person a week later. The man was around Hannibal’s age, had slightly similar features, and he met every condition in Hannibal’s list. It was time to act.

By the time Hannibal flew to the country the man lived in and prepared everything, he had been paying brief visits to Will in San Junipero every day that he had been able to, even if it was just for a little while. He told him every detail of his plan, and Will didn’t bat an eye; he merely nodded, listening intently.

The night before the day Hannibal would act, they had dinner in Will’s living room with the sound of the waves in the background. When they finished it was almost midnight. They sat on the couch facing each other, knowing Hannibal would disappear soon. In an act of boldness, Hannibal cupped Will’s cheek and pulled him closer to kiss him on the forehead. He had been tentative and careful around Will, and it had been the other man who had initiated every physical contact between them. But in that moment, Hannibal pressed his lips to his skin, his nose buried in the curls hanging from his forehead. He felt Will’s hands grasping his shirt at his sides, pulling him closer… and then he was thrown out of San Junipero.

When he put the device into his suitcase, he straightened and brought two hands to his lips; he could still feel Will’s skin against them.

The next day, he located the nursing home where the man he had chosen lived. When Hannibal came into the room, the smell of death was like a slap in the face, strong and heavy in the air. The man looked up at him from the armchair in which he was sitting, and he coughed into his fist a couple of times before he could even speak.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked in a rough voice.

Hannibal smiled. Bad manners… even more perfect.

He gave the man a quick death, pressing a pillow into his face. Despite his state, the man tried to fight back, but the illness had consumed his strength almost entirely, and pretty soon life slipped out of him. Hannibal pulled out his phone and sent the text he had ready. Chiyoh appeared five minutes later, dressed as a paramedic and pushing a stretcher with a rectangular, white sheet on top. They moved the body on it and covered it. When they made sure there was no personnel going through the halls, Chiyoh turned to him. They looked at each other for a second, and finally she nodded once as a sort of goodbye. Hannibal did so too, and she went out the room pushing the stretcher, off to dispose of the body in a near river as they had planned.

They had already changed the man’s pictures in the nursing home’s database, and since it was such a big place, there was an absurd amount of personnel, most of them sometimes not seeing the same patients more than once a month. As soon as Chiyoh sent him a text saying it was done, Hannibal set in motion the second part of his plan.

After a couple of nurses visited him and didn’t notice anything strange between the files and the patient they were seeing, Hannibal decided to visit Will. It was late when he appeared in the beach, the sun long gone. But as soon as he turned, there was Will, getting up from having been sitting on the sand. Hannibal wondered how much time had the man been waiting for him, and the thought was enough to make him smile as Will approached him. When he was before him, Will reached out to him and touched Hannibal’s hand for a second before letting out a breath and smiling, too.

“So. How did it go?”

They started walking towards Will’s house along the beach that Hannibal had already begun calling theirs in his head.

“It’s done,” Hannibal announced happily.

“It is…?” Will asked, his smile widening in his lips.

Hannibal nodded. “Our dear friend had already been approved and prescribed with the procedure, but he had never gone through with it. They will sign the papers for my passing over tomorrow, and it will be done the day after.”

Will paused then, and he bit his lower lip. Hannibal could see the moon reflected on his eyes and the light breeze around them tousled Will’s hair. Hannibal wondered who decided the weather there. Was it their subconscious asking for rain, or sun, or clouds? Or was it programmed, a random sequence of numbers that dictated what happened in the sky upon them?

“Only two days…” Will said after a pause, his gaze softened around the corner of his eyes.

“Two days,” Hannibal nodded.

Hannibal watched as Will swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his exposed throat. Will’s eyes then dropped from Hannibal’s across his face and down to his lips, where he kept his gaze for a long moment before looking back up.

Hannibal stayed very still, his entire body suddenly aware of Will’s proximity. And then, he felt Will touching his hand with his own; first his forefinger brushing the back of Hannibal’s hand, and then circling it to link their fingers together. Will leaned in slightly so- and just then Hannibal was pulled back to his body in the nursing home. He shot an accusatory glance to the clock in the nightstand, verifying that it was midnight. He took the pad from his temple and put it carefully in its place.

*

Will was sitting on the beach, his calves half buried in the sand and his now five dogs trotting along the shore, taking the couple of toys Will had given them and throwing them in the air. He smiled, still amazed at how much Will had gotten to love them despite them not being exactly real; not like the people, who had existed in the outside world once, and now continued on living here.

He straightened then and looked at the watch in his wrist. It was well into the afternoon now, and he wondered what was taking them so long, why wasn’t he there already…

Will sighed and bent his knees, circling both arms around his legs and holding them. He felt the anxiety creeping into him, but another voice shouted _no_. He had waited ten years. _Ten_. He had waited and Hannibal had finally returned to him. He had promised him he would be there, two days ago, and so he would be.

Will let himself drop backwards, lying down on the sand with his arms thrown above his head, and watched the clouds as they slowly slid across the sky. One of the dogs appeared above him, blocking the view and trying to lick his face. Will laughed and pushed him a little, but not completely away. After that, he stood up and ran to the shore, playing with the dogs, throwing them the toys into the water or as far in the sand as he could.

He had lost track of time when he heard the single ring that warned him that someone had come into San Junipero. Not _someone_ ; the only person he had put an alert on.

Will turned around, and there he was. That time, unlike all the previous times, Hannibal was wearing a suit; one of the dashing suits he used to wear when they had met each other. Will smiled immediately, and he dropped the toy he had in his hand to go to him as Hannibal did the same. Will walked slowly but purposeful at first, and then he abandoned all pretenses and trotted the last steps between them.

When they met in a middle point, Will crashed his body into him in a tight hug that threw them backwards. Hannibal landed on his back, and Will chuckled against him, but neither of them let go even an inch. They stayed wrapped in each other’s arms for as long as they could, and then Will pulled back, sitting on his heels and helping Hannibal sit up.

“Is it done? Are you…?”  
“I’ve passed over,” Hannibal confirmed with his lips curved upwards in a smile.

Will beamed at him, and he felt the need to touch him again, but he stopped himself. He didn’t want to overwhelm Hannibal when he had _just_ gotten here.

“How do you feel?” he asked, even if he had been over the same and knew perfectly well how it felt.

“I feel… Good. More than good.”

Will nodded, and they looked at each other for a moment. Hannibal was there, finally. He had promised, and there he was.

Will felt his throat closing up, and so he chuckled to try to release the tension in his muscles. He pointed at Hannibal’s chest.

“You dressed up to come see me?” he asked him in a teasing tone.

“How could I not…?”

Will huffed out a laugh, and they stood up helping each other.

“Why don’t we go home and you tell me everything?” Will asked, and he saw the way Hannibal’s brow twitched almost imperceptibly at the word he had used. But he simply nodded, and so they went.

Hannibal started telling him after they called the dogs and headed out to the house by the beach that Will had created years ago. Before that, he had been living a couple of years in a tiny flat downtown, before fully realizing _how_ much you could do in San Junipero, and how much he missed a more relaxed place to live, like his house in Wolf Trap.

Once in the house, Will opened the fridge and smiled at the surprised expression on Hannibal’s face. It was fully stocked with everything he could need, and so Hannibal gave him a bright smile. They cooked together for the first time, since now they weren’t pressured by a deadline in which Hannibal would disappear. They ate dinner in the porch, listening to the distant cars passing by and the people probably heading to the center of the city, where all the parties and leisure activities were located. Once the night completely set around them, the cool air made them move to the swinging chair. Will sipped the whiskey he had poured before setting the glass down on the auxiliary table, and he turned to Hannibal. The man’s gaze was fixed in their intertwined hands between both of their laps, covered by a thin blanket, and Will smiled.

“So. Can I ask you something?”

Hannibal’s eyes focused back in his face, and he tilted his head.

“Of course.”

Will nodded, and he ran his tongue across his lower lip before locking his eyes on Hannibal’s.

“Are you going to kiss me, or am I going to have to wait another ten years…?”

Hannibal’s lips parted in a ragged intake of breath, and he stayed very still, his eyes softening and bright. Will remembered that look. It was the same fond look Hannibal had given him sometimes when Will surprised him or did something Hannibal hadn’t expected. And it was, too, the last look Will had seen before wrapping his arms around Hannibal’s neck and pushing them both off the cliff. Of course, it had taken Will a long time to see it and accept it. But he had missed that for ten years, and now there it was, Hannibal’s love as intense as he remembered.

Hannibal raised the hand Will wasn’t holding and, very slowly, he cupped Will’s neck and jaw with his long fingers. Hannibal caressed the shell of his ear and his hair back with his thumb in a too familiar movement for Will.

When Hannibal finally leaned in, Will closed his eyes at the man’s proximity. He felt Hannibal’s breath ghosting on his lips, and his nose fitting next to his, and he gasped, feeling a tug in his stomach. He had missed him so much, had waited for so long… He felt a silent tear rolling down his cheek, and finally Hannibal closed the distance, pressing their lips together in a soft kiss that slowly turned in two, three kisses. Hannibal tilted his head then, gently sucking on his upper lip as his fingers settled more firmly into Will’s hair, and Will felt his entire body setting alight.

Will couldn’t hold still anymore, and so he grabbed Hannibal by the nape and parted his mouth, licking at Hannibal’s lips. When he felt Hannibal’s tongue against his, Will moaned as he pressed into him with his body and kissed him again, this time not as gently, not as slowly. Will disentangled their joined hands and slid his own around Hannibal’s middle and to his back, where he snaked his fingers upwards, dragging up the sweater Hannibal had changed into after dinner, and using that to slide his fingers beneath the garment. Hannibal groaned against the kiss, his own hand grabbing at Will’s sweater and pulling him even closer, Will almost on top of him now.

Will heard the swinging chair creaking under their combined weight and movements, and the only part of his mind that wasn’t filled with ‘ _Hannibal, Hannibal’s lips, Hannibal’s skin_ ’, pulled back from the kiss. They looked at each other breathless, Hannibal looking completely undone and perfect, and Will smiled warmly.

“Let’s go inside.”

Hannibal simply nodded, and they got up. But as Will turned to the door, he felt Hannibal’s hand on his wrist, and he turned.

“Will. There’s… no rush,” he said, and Will swallowed the sudden tightness in his throat.

It was his turn to nod, but he smiled. “I know. We have _a lot_ to discuss, and we will, but… we _literally_ have forever, Hannibal,” Will said, and he saw the change in Hannibal breathing, because it was true and it was a heady knowledge. “And… I think we’ve waited enough, don’t you?”

Hannibal smiled too, then, and Will turned his hand in Hannibal’s to grab him instead. He pulled him into the house, where their fingers found each other’s skin as easily as their lips had. As they would always find each other.

 

 

**\- Two weeks later -**

Hannibal buried his hand into the sand, taking a small amount and raising it, the grains escaping between his fingers until there was none left in his palm. He sighed contentedly and looked up to the seawater from where he was seated on the shore. He tipped his head up and closed his eyes, letting the sun warm the bare skin of his shoulders and chest. A few droplets of water slid from his still damp hair, drawing crooked lines across his back until they dried. He had missed swimming so much, not having done it even once in years…

“Hey!” a voice made him open his eyes and look to his right, where a man dressed in running clothes stopped, panting from the exercise. “You’re… the visiting guy!”

Hannibal nodded, having recognized him as well.

“Yes, I am.”

The man chuckled, bending in half to support his hands on his knees.

“I’m glad you’re here again. Still visiting?”

Hannibal smiled a little, wrapping his arms around his own legs and linking his hands.

“Not anymore, no.”

“Ah, I see. Found a reason to stay in our beautiful San Junipero, right?”

Hannibal turned to the water then, and his smile widened almost instantly.

“Yes. I found the reason.”

The man laughed beside him, but Hannibal’s mind registered it as a far away sound.

“I’m happy to hear that. I gotta go, but I guess I’ll see you around, then!”

Hannibal nodded slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man circling him and resume his running on his left side of the beach.

The focus of Hannibal’s gaze, however, was on the man in the water and the two dogs barking at him from the shore so he would throw them the ball again. Will took the yellow toy and threw it as far as he could into the beach, the dogs dashing off to see who would get it first, dodging the rest of the pack.

Will used the distraction to walk out of the ocean. The water made his hair look longer, dangling over his forehead in wet curls, his now tanner skin shining like gold under the morning sun, and his swimsuit hanging loose on his hips… Hannibal breathed in and out as Will made his way to him. When he reached him, Will flopped down on the sand right beside him as he panted through his parted mouth, lying on his back and propped on his elbows. When Hannibal tipped his head as he looked at him, Will gave him the brightest smile, and Hannibal felt his chest filling up with the next breath he took.

“You’re not going to go into the water anymore?”

It took Hannibal a couple of seconds to react to Will’s words, and finally he shrugged.

“Maybe later,” he said as he turned to lie on his side, on his elbow.

This close, Hannibal could see tiny droplets running down Will’s face, he could distinguish the exact storm blue color of his eyes, and he could make out the freckles that had appeared on Will’s cheeks and nose. He had never noticed them before, but he could see them clearly there, summoned by the days he had spent in the beach with Hannibal the past two weeks.

Will chuckled then, a deep, musical sound that knocked the air out of Hannibal’s lungs.

“Are you going to keep looking at me like that forever?”

“Like what?” Hannibal asked, his eyes returning to Will’s.

“Like you still can’t believe it.”

Hannibal tipped his head down, their foreheads now closer.

“Maybe I still can’t. Maybe I have never been able to believe you are real…”

The smile on Will’s lips wavered slightly so. He looked away from Hannibal face, and he saw how he swallowed before licking his lips in a slow movement. Hannibal feared he had gone too far, scared him with this still newly earned honesty between them. But just when he was about to sit up and try to change the subject, Will turned to him again, his hand finding the nape of Hannibal’s neck and pulling him closer. Their foreheads met, their mouths close enough for him to feel Will’s breath against him. Hannibal gasped once, his eyes closing on their own volition and the hand he wasn’t using to support himself holding onto Will’s bare side, but not pulling towards him or pushing him away.

And this, just as Will’s existence, was another thing he would never be able to believe entirely. It didn’t matter how many times they had feasted in each other’s skins in the little time they had been together in San Junipero, or the number of mornings he could wake up with Will beside him. This closeness, and caused by Will’s choice… this would be something he would never get completely used to.

He stayed still while Will was, too, and he finally heard and felt Will’s laugh again, the puff of air hitting his mouth.

“I will have to spend a long time trying to convince you, then,” Will said in a light tone, but not a teasing one.

And before Hannibal could respond, Will tipped his head and their lips met in a kiss. Will tasted like salt and sunlight, like the toast he had had for breakfast that morning and the coffee they had shared. But, above all, he tasted like _life_ , like something _very_ real.

Hannibal felt Will’s hand moving up to cup his jaw, his mouth parting and his tongue licking Hannibal’s lips. He opened up to him immediately, welcoming Will’s tongue and groaning quietly as he pushed into the kiss a little, but keeping it a gentle, careful touch.

When they parted, their breathing was ragged. They looked into each other’s eyes and Hannibal smiled widely.

“If this will be your way of convincing me, I think I will remain skeptical for a long time.”

Will laughed again, and Hannibal dragged the hand he had on his side up across his ribs and shoulder until he buried his fingers into the mat of damp curls.

The dogs came back in that moment, bored of entertaining themselves and demanding attention. Will got up first with a smile, taking Hannibal’s hand in his and pulling him to his feet. Hannibal leaned in to give him a quick kiss when Will suddenly raced towards the water chased by the barking dogs, and so Hannibal ran after him, trying to tackle him as the other went into the water again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the ending of the story! :)
> 
> Thank you SO much to everyone who read this, left kudos, comments, and encouraged me on twitter or everywhere. It really really means a lot!
> 
> Also, stay tuned because [levi163](http://archiveofourown.org/users/levi163) is working on an epilogue for this fic! :D - ETA, [>here it is](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8555644), go read it! :)

**Author's Note:**

> @murakisses on twitter [made](https://twitter.com/murakisses/status/852032703750787073) a video inspired by this! Watch it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkzMILn-PO4&feature=youtu.be)!
> 
> \----
> 
> All information + links about my writing are [here](https://about.me/mizumohno).
> 
> Say hello to me @ [twitter](https://twitter.com/mizumohno) and [tumblr](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/) :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Heaven On Earth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8555644) by [levi163](https://archiveofourown.org/users/levi163/pseuds/levi163)




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